A relatively large amount of information takes the form of spreadsheet data, for example, tables, listings, etc. When displayed on a small handheld device such as a cellular telephone display, spreadsheets tend to be difficult to use because spatial structure and readability cannot be achieved simultaneously especially on small display devices. For the spatial structure to be visible, a large part of the spreadsheet should be made visible/readable to the end-user. Given the relatively small screen resolutions of mobile devices, text is simply not readable. For instance, in small handheld device image viewing scenario, due to the small size of the display screen of the handheld device, either a small section of the document displayed thereon is seen in readable form or the overall structure of the document is shown absent legibility. As such, a user needs a way to move around the various rows and columns of spreadsheets, tables, etc., where both spatial layout and text are important for display purposes.
This can be seen from FIGS. 1a and 1b. Suppose, for instance, one is trying to find date corresponding to the “DS 9140” label. In FIG. 1a, we see that the data shown is only “DS 9140” and the needed date “14-September” is not visible. To get to the desired information, one has to compare multiple views or remember row and/or column numbers as one moves their focus around the document. This way of navigating spreadsheets can be error prone and time consuming. Since memory is often limited in smaller devices, only sections or small portions of an entire spreadsheet can be held in memory at any one time. A split screen view with local split-bars can be implemented to enable the user to manipulate their viewpoint. This may be considered equivalent to selecting split view in an Excel-type spreadsheet and using scroll bars to navigate individual splits. However, one disadvantage with this approach is the need for software to reside on the hand-held device. This is often a problem due to small available storage, memory, and other limitations inherent on smaller devices with relatively tiny display screen area.
What is needed in this art is an image processing method that simulates split and scroll bars based on an image file format communicated between server and client.